Isotopes to unravel past climate

Processing multicore onboard R/V Thomas Thompson. Photo credit: Y. Wu

The research focus of my team is to i) unravel the biogeochemical behavior of rare earth element (REE) concentrations and their isotopes in the modern ocean, ii) use these observational relationships from the modern ocean to better understand the past ocean and its link to global climate change, and iii) refining existing paleo-proxy protocols and their applications as well as exploring paleo-proxy potentials of new and non-traditional isotope systems (e.g., cerium (Ce)). ​

The oceans store massive amount of carbon, heat, and nutrients that are efficiently transported globally via ocean circulation. This process creates the chemical and biological balances between the different ocean basins and has important implications for marine ecosystems, biogeochemical cycling, and climate change. In order to understand how this arrangement might change with changing climate, it is important that we understand how the ocean circulation changed in the past. Radiogenic isotopes of neodymium (Nd), lead (Pb), strontium (Sr)) are some of the tools that I primarily use to examine past changes in ocean circulation. However, before embarking on a journey to study past climate, it is essential that we understand how the proxies that we plan on applying to study past climate work in the modern ocean.

Paleoceanography:1. Oxygen Minimum Zone Fluctuation in the Arabian Sea During Abrupt Climate Change Events2.Investigating the Influences of Hydrothermal and Respired Carbon in Intermediate Waters of the Equatorial Pacific Ocean During the Last Deglaciation 3. Dynamics of Pacific Antarctic Circumpolar Current (DYNAPACC)